If you had one wish as a clinic owner, what would it be? Most people reply – to have a full schedule every day despite cancellations and reschedules that may occur and to have a constant referral source without spending hours of extra time outside of the clinic. Does that sound like you as well?
In the past, understanding how to schedule patients effectively so as to have a full schedule generally required time and effort by you and your front desk staff. Filling your schedule might involve physical therapy marketing ideas and efforts that include in-person lunches with doctors, having a booth at a community event or doing speaking engagements at a local gym. All of these are still great physical therapy business ideas for increasing your referral source, but they do require time that takes you away from the clinic, which means fewer appointments available to patient and loss of revenue.
How can you combat this? Below are four physical therapy business ideas for filling your schedule and boosting your revenue that don’t require any time away from your clinic.
Create a Network of Medical Team Providers Online
Doctors are a great resource, but there are many other clinicians that are part of the Medical Team that can be a fantastic referral source as well. Make sure to search massage therapists, personal trainers, sports psychologists, nutritionists, coaches, etc. who are in your area and introduce yourself online. Maybe it is by friending them on Facebook, making a LinkedIn connection with them and then sharing your contact information to create a symbiotic referral relationship. This is an effective way of marketing your physical therapy clinic by setting up relationships that could generate important leads for the lifetime of your business.
Share Patient Testimonials & Thank a Provider Through Social Media
One great physical therapy marketing idea is to leverage patient reviews. When you receive a great review from a patient about how pertinent you were to their recovery, post it on all your social media avenues (with their permission) and make sure to “tag” the referring provider’s practice with a quick “thank you Dr. Smith” for the referral. This helps make doctors feel like part of the solution and helps your clinic stand out to the referring provider.
Improve Patient Scheduling by Making Your Availability More Accessible
If you want to fill your empty spots and your cancellation spots without time-consuming efforts of your front desk staff, then make your schedule as visible as possible. Patients should be able to request appointments and or schedule appointments through multiple avenues that do not require picking up the phone and calling. Understanding how to schedule patients effectively means making your schedule available on mobile apps, on your website and on online search engines. A platform like BetterPT is a great example of physical therapy scheduling software that allows patients to schedule and request appointments at your clinic through an app. When a cancellation occurs, that appointment now becomes available for another patient to schedule through these online resources. Utilize physical therapy scheduling software that is available to your patients allowing them more convenience in booking appointments.
Having a Presence Online is an Essential Part of Marketing for Physical Therapy
Patients are searching for your clinic online more than ever now. You should invest money into optimizing your website (SEO or search engine optimization), utilizing GoogleAdWordss, having social media accounts, connecting with influencers, and being part of multiple search engines such as BetterPT. Getting online is one of the best physical therapy marketing ideas because you can optimize your availability to be found while you are treating.
We know you are giving the best care possible, let’s make sure patients are able to find your clinic and conveniently schedule with you to receive that care!
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